Tulane football coach Curtis Johnson might have some pull with suspended New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, but that connection won't be enough to put Payton on the sideline of games or practices this fall.

Johnson talked about Payton on SiriusXM radio's College Sports Nation Wednesday morning and said his one-season suspension with the NFL also prohibits Payton from coming to Tulane despite the fact Johnson was Payton's wide receivers coach with the Saints through the 2011-12 season.

"Here’s the one thing I know – I’ve been trying to get him to come up here – He can’t come on a college campus," Johnson said on the show. "It’s part of his suspension. He can’t go to college football games."

When the host said he was unaware of that restriction, Johnson responded:

"That’s a pretty big penalty because he would be here everyday (otherwise)."

Johnson also discussed his recruiting strategy -- which is obvious looking at the crop of New Orleans-based talent he has gone after for the 2013 recruiting class.

"You know what, this is what my base is," Johnson said. "I want to stay and start an infrastructure here. I want everything to come from within. Two things I know: there are more players in the NFL per capita from Louisiana than anywhere else and Florida was the No. 1 signing state of high school football players. One out of every 120 high school players signed scholarships. Louisiana was actually the second state. One out of every 170 – so I’m thinking if we can keep the right guys here – smart, tough players—I think we can be good. Also, I have a great background in the state of Florida. I recruited a lot of guys who are playing in the NFL who played at the University of Miami back when we were pretty good. So I think those two states are probably our most popular states and then we’ll branch out a little bit to Texas and the East Coast because we have a heavy alumni from the East Coast at Tulane. So I think those are the places."

On Tuesday, Johnson received commitments with local ties. O.P. Walker defensive end Lyn Clark pledged as did Reginald Bell, a quarterback who lives in California but whose parents attended New Orleans high schools.